Regular Joes Are Making an Impact on Patent Litigation and Advertising

Two articles I read recently discussed how companies are saving costs by enlisting people "off the streets" to assist them.  The first article discussed how Silicon Valley companies who face exorbitant costs of patent litigation seek the help from the masses to conduct prior art searches. 

This is how it works:  a company called Article One Partners LLC allows a company like Apple, Microsoft, etc. post a description of the technology for which they are being sued and allowing them to post awards for those who find the prior art.  The award is larger the better the prior art.  Article One then hires students, techies, and others on a part-time basis to search for the elusive prior art.  These people submit photographs, literary references, foreign patents, and other obscure documents which they hope is enough to convince the technology company that it can invalidate the patent being enforced against it. 

I was involved in a patent case which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for the patent validity search alone.  I recall the attorney who conducted the search (a very thorough guy) filled a room full of bankers boxes worth of items which could or could not be prior art.  Article One Partners puts the search in the hands of amateurs who do not charge the hourly rates of the attorneys.  The company's attorneys undoubtedly review the submitted prior art, but utilizing the services of Article One Partners can save a technology company a boatload in attorneys' fees and costs.  While Article One Partners services big companies, it could be an invaluable tool for a small startup company facing a patent lawsuit from a huge conglomerate. 

The second article discussed a company called Poptent, Inc. which appears to have gathered inspiration from the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest from a few years back.  In case you forgot, Doritos held a contest asking amateurs to create and submit a commercial with the best one(s) being shown during the Super Bowl.  The winning commercial cost the group of filmmakers who created it $ 12.  The cost of using Poptent's stable of students, hobbyists, and film school graduates to create a television commercial costs a company about ten percent of the cost of using a traditional advertising firm.  That is a huge savings. 

The lesson learned from these articles is that a company should think about utilizing other resources rather than the "traditional" ones which may be outside of that company's budget.  In my practice, I am always trying to work with my clients to achieve a quality product that fits within their budget.